The Indian Premier League (IPL) has had its fair share of match fixing controversies and allegations over the last 10 years. IPL franchises have been suspended and players have been banned when it came to light that they had indulged in fixing.
Millions of Indians fans continue to believe that match fixing is still rampant in the IPL and many fans have already started questioning IPL 2020 after the very second game in the tournament resulted in a draw and caused a Super Over.
BCCI Brings In Sportradar
The BCCI announced last week that it has entered into a partnership with UK based Sportradar, to engage its integrity services during IPL2020 and ensure that all games are free from match fixing. Sportradar is expected to monitor all games during IPL2020 and check for irregular betting activities which will indicate if a game has been fixed.
Sportradar has extensive experience working with top organizations across the world including FIFA and UEFA. The organization has also work with the football league in Goa and has pulled up a number of games that looked like they were fixed.
Reports suggest that the integrity services team monitor close to 600 online betting sites and processes over 5 million data sets each day. The company relies on a very complex algorithm to surf betting sites and check for irregularities. The website claims that the program uses 44 detailed pre-match alerts and 25 live alerts to compare their mathematically calculated odds and compare it with the odds of different sportsbooks.
If a sportsbook has any weird fluctuation in their betting odds during any specific moment, this is immediately flagged and highlighted. The BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit will be happy to see Sportradar get involved as it helps make their work easier as there is literally non-stop action during IPL2020.
Delhi Capitals vs. Kings XI Punjab Under Cloud
The very second game of the IPL has stirred up a controversy on social media as Indian fans believe that the game between the Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab was fixed. They have reason to be suspicious as the game resulted in a tie and went into a super over. Those who watched the game believe that it should never have been a tie in the first place.
Delhi Capitals batted first and were immediately in trouble after losing three quick wickets with just 13 runs on the board. Captain S Iyer and R Pant rebuilt the innings and then all-rounder Marcus Stoinis gave momentum to the innings scoring 52 of just 21 balls to get the Capitals to 157.
This was a very modest score and Kings XI should have been able to chase it down easily but they lose wickets at regular intervals to put pressure on themselves. M Agarwal held the innings together and batted well with the tail. Kings XI were penalized one run in the 19th over as the umpire thought Chris Jordan did not get his bat over the line and ruled a two as one run.
Video replays showed clearly that Jordan had got his bat over the line and Kings XI should have been given 2 runs. In the end, Kings XI ended up scoring 157 in their 20 overs which forced the game into a super over.
Delhi Capitals played well during their super over as KG Rabada gave away just 2 runs and took 2 wickets. Kings XI ended up losing the game in the super over.
Super Over Betting
All online sportsbooks covering IPL2020 have a special category of bets for a super over. Those who had their money on a super over taking place, would have cashed out with big rewards, especially if they had wagered a lot of money. It will now be up to Sportradar to inform the BCCI, if there was unusual activity during the Delhi Capitals vs. Kings XI Punjab game.
